“The object of the organizers [of the Yavapai Club] was to induce a healthful mingling of recreation, pleasure, and business, and the object has been most successfully attained to the advantage of the club and of Prescott,” the Weekly Journal-Miner declared. “Important business enterprises, many of them of a quasi-public character, have been launched after excellent dinners, or in the course of enjoyable smokers, [when marijuana was imbibed.] Millionaire capitalists, statesmen of worldwide reputation, railroad magnates, distinguished authors, and captains of industry have been pleased guests of the Yavapai Club.” Indeed, during the first quarter of the 20th century, the Yavapai Club was the heart and soul of the business and social community of the county which bore its name.
It was January 1902 when the Yavapai Commercial Club was incorporated, and the building, which would open in just under two years, would gain a highly respected reputation throughout the country and abroad. “The Yavapai Commercial Club is a social organization whose membership consists of the leading people of the city and county, both in social and business life,” the Arizona Republican explained.
By the end of 1902, railroad mogul Frank M Murphy bought the old Dake Opera house at the southeast corner of Gurley and Marina streets. The Dake had fallen into disuse and disrepair, and stood “inelegantly perched on Nob hill for some years, and served more as an eyesore than a public necessity,” the Arizona Daily Journal-Miner observed. Demolition was started at once. Murphy described the endeavor as a “long felt want.” He had already purchased the adjacent lot, and the cottage on that lot would be razed as well.
Officers were elected in June 1903, and a membership drive commenced. “In about two days, something over $1500 was collected as charter fees,” the Republican disclosed. Membership was half-priced until July 15, when the dues would increase from $25 to $50 (or $930-$1860 today).
The building first opened its doors on New Year’s Day 1904. “The handsome building ablaze with lights presents a noble appearance…and the spacious interiors thronged with the elite,” the Republican noted. Members could inspect any portion of the structure, and all were highly impressed. The Prescott Orchestra provided the music, but the floors were so crowded that finding a space to dance was difficult. The building was described as having a “composite style of architecture, the Mission idea prevailing…with arched corridors on the ground floor and deep porches above…”
There was an entrance on both sides of the corner lot. Upon entrance into either, one was met with a spacious hallway. On the first floor was “a smoking room, buffet, dining room, kitchen and pantry, the director’s office, check room, lavatories, and heating arrangements,” the same article stated. On the second floor, one would find the billiard room, the ladies’ parlor and dressing room, and a spacious ballroom. The third floor contained nine sleeping rooms with five bathrooms.
The Republican considered the ladies' parlor as “the most pleasant room in the building. The prevailing color is old rose, and with ivory white wood work, mahogany furniture, and rich rugs and draperies, a most luxurious effect has been obtained.” It was further noted that the restaurant was “a specially attractive feature of the club. The kitchen [was] fitted with all the up-to-date facilities, and the table linen, china, and silver are of special order.”
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| The kitchen at the Yavapai Club |
The dining room was “spacious and handsomely furnished in weathered oak. The smoking room was furnished in weathered oak and leather, with plenty of old-fashioned Sleepy Hollow style chairs,” the Republican described. Large open fireplaces were located in the dining room, smoking room, and ladies’ parlor. The sleeping rooms were “unusually spacious and well arranged,” with furniture in the “mission style stained to match the color scheme of forest green in the woodwork."
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| The Yavapai Club dining room. |
The club’s first manager, RE Pellow, left employment at the Escalante (Harvey House) in Ash Fork.
The building, with its cupola, instantly became iconic, but lesser known to us today is a second structure constructed east of and next to the main building, which housed two bowling alleys.
High praise was heaped upon the building’s accommodations immediately. A California man told a Journal-Miner reporter, “that the Yavapai Club was one of the finest and best managed [clubs that he] had been his pleasure to visit in many a day,” the Journal-Miner reported. “The Club is meeting with success beyond the most sanguine expectations of its members.” Indeed, before the month was over, Manager Pellow told the paper that the waiting list for an overnight room was already at 15 and “the cafe [was] taxed almost to its capacity.”
In just a couple of weeks, the Vice President of the United Verde Copper Co. and Charles Clark, the son of the Senator who owned it, spent the night in the luxurious abode. They were the start of a parade of VIPs and millionaire capitalists, who would stay at the Club.
Frank Murphy, who was unable to attend the grand opening, was treated to a grand reception upon his return. Gov. AO Brodie was part of this celebration.
After only two years, the reviews were glowing. “There are something like 250 members of this club, and its non-resident membership contains the names of some of the most prominent men of finance in the United States,” the Republican reported. The building was three stories high and was heated with steam. “It contains a cafe and buffet, billiard rooms, card rooms, bowling alley, smoking and reading rooms, and a handsome ballroom…”
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| Yavapai Club interior, perhaps a reading room(?) |
Some of the VIPs who enjoyed the club included: the US Grand Master of the Odd Fellows, officers from the National Guard stationed at Camp Brodie, three Congressmen who came to Prescott; Adams, Marshall and Tawney, former governor NO Murphy, US Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger, US President Howard Taft, Chicago retailer W Fields, Lt. Gen. Anna Romanz Chaffee, Chief of Staff of the US Army, Gov. RE Sloan, and Gov. George Hunt.
For two decades, the Yavapai Club was at the center of the social world in Prescott and Yavapai County. It was rare for the club not to get some kind of story in the newspaper, whether it was one of their dances, a private party, or a monthly business meeting. The latter often received the majority of a full page, recording the speeches verbatim.
Clouds of Marijuana Smoke
No less than two-dozen “smokers”, in which marijuana was smoked at the Club, were reported in the newspapers. Many celebrities attended “smokers”: Governor Kibbey (hosted by Judge Sloan), all the Arizona Bankers twice (who were in Prescott for conventions), and the Arizona National Guard. Several were held for troops or officers at Fort Whipple. Other VIPs included Percival Lowell (of Lowell’s observatory in Flagstaff), US Postmaster General Frank H Hitchcock, over 100 members of the State tax commission, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, and the Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce, who all smoked marijuana at the club.
When marijuana was legal, Prescott, AZ used to hold annual "Smoker" events where cannabis was recreationally smoked.
One remarkable smoker was held for a state-wide convention of Masons a week after Arizona’s statehood. “If judged by the sounds of spritely music, roaring laughter and shouts of appreciation which could be plainly heard on the Plaza,” the Journal-Miner related, “it must be granted that the Masons were laying aside their ancient dignity and indulging in what can best be expressed in the parlance of the street as a rip-roaring old time.” The paper went on to say: “The dense clouds of smoke which drifted across Gurley street caused [one man] to fear that an alarm of fire might be turned in by some ignorant, deaf spectator.”
One noticeable trend discovered was the high turnover of staff members. The first chef left after a mere three months. After a little over 19 months, the club’s first manager quit to go back to his former job at the Escalante. In 1905, it lost another manager along with the entire kitchen staff. The replacement Chef only lasted three months. Even the bellboy resigned to go back to his old job at the post office.
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| The Yavapai Club bar |
Holidays were special events with formal dinners and dances. This included Thanksgiving, Christmas, Washington’s birthday, and even Halloween. The first Christmas at the Club was an elaborate affair. “Perhaps the biggest feature of the holiday season in Prescott will be the Christmas program at the Yavapai Club,” the Journal-Miner reported. The tree was “loaded with presents and sweetmeats for all the children of Prescott who are on the lists furnished by the Associated Charities organization. Useful presents will be given to hundreds of children…and each one will also receive candy, toys, popcorn, and other goodies to make them happy and place in their breasts a ray of joy such as only children can appreciate.” The Club held an elaborate dinner on Christmas evening. Both turkey and duck were served as well as chicken, fish, lobster, and a score of side dishes and drinks.
The Yavapai Club also regularly hosted meetings of the Monday Club and the Good Roads Association.
FIRE!
But in just under four years, disaster struck. Fire broke out on November 11, 1908. “The flames were confined to the upper parts of the building and…there was comparatively little damage to the lower part. The fire is understood to have originated from a defective flue. It was first discovered in the roof.” The building cost $43,000 and was insured for $20,000.
Ten days later, a contract was signed to rebuild the club. It called for the building to be completed in five months. In the meantime, meetings of the club were held at the Congress Hotel, a couple of buildings west, on the opposite side of the street. “The Yavapai Club is one of the most popular institutions in the territory,” the Republican wrote. “It soon became looked upon as the central point for the social as well as the business life of northern Arizona.” Some furniture was saved and placed in the lobby and basement of the Congress. “Although temporary, the quarters have been fitted at considerable expense,” the Journal-Miner observed.
The new building took two months longer than expected to complete, and opened on July 1, 1909. The round cupola was gone. “It is a magnificent structure,” the Journal-Miner wrote, “it excels in general design and arrangement.”
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| Rebuilt after the fire--the Cupola is gone. (Photos with the cupola were taken between 1904-1908. Pics without the cupola were 1909-1939.) |
The new building included a unique space that would become widely popular, known as The Stope. In mining, a stope was an empty void after the ore was taken out, and a portion of the rebuild was made to look like the inside of a mine. From the old hallway, "one goes into the main station, an opening 18x24 feet. From this, a crosscut, twelve feet long, courses to the east where the view is reached, and a drift 24 feet long, running north and south, is passed into. In the face of this drift at each end, a metallic scene awaits one of the most realistic imaginations in mining life. Ores are to be seen embedded in the formation at both points, and a vivid idea is given of the practical operation of a bonanza,” the Journal-Miner described. The Republican added: “The mineral specimens shown here in natural surroundings are both multifarious and alluring.”
"The timbering of The Stope is an attractive feature of its mechanical make-up… The side timbers are 10x10, while the roof of the station is supported with 10x16 beams, with lagging of Oregon pine," the Republican explained. "Every stick of timber used is in the rough. Miner’s candlesticks are to be seen embedded at all points, and from the handle of each an electric light glows.” There were dozens of them. Signal attachments were also about as they would be in any mine, but in this case, it would signal the barkeep. One bell for a highball; two belts for a slow rickey; 3 for an imported beer… All of this added $2000 (about $70,000 today) to the reconstruction bill, and was covered by a few members of the club.
There were now 12 suites available to sleep in, with each one having its own bathroom. The northwest corner of the third floor was the Governor’s office, set aside for him at any visit to Prescott and offering a magnificent view of Gurley Street and Thumb Butte.
At the grand re-opening, the place was packed. The governor and his wife were in the receiving line welcoming the many guests. Many of the rooms were more commodious, and everyone believed the new building was even better than the first.
Sports
The adjacent bowling alley building hosted several matches and tournaments. In 1920, the Club had its first women’s bowling competition. “It is hoped later to put in a series for women bowlers,” the Journal-Miner reported.
The Yavapai Club also had a baseball team with an “enviable reputation,” the Journal-Miner wrote. Under the management of Lester Ruffner, they were unbeaten. However, Lester had to give up the reins “owing to the fact that his duties as arena director [for the Frontier Days rodeo] occupy so much of his time.” However, when Lester left, so did three of the better players, and the first game post-Ruffner ended in an 11 to 9 loss to Humboldt.
One unique event of note occurred in 1912, when the Club held a showing of the first movie ever filmed in Prescott, “The Cringer.”
Story of, and behind, the first movie made in Yavapai County through a nationwide search of movie reviews and newspaper articles.
The Yavapai Club’s decline began in the early 1920s, when the jazz age and athletic dances like the Charleston, the Foxtrot, the Shimmy, the Black Bottom, and the Tango displaced the Victorian formal affairs in popularity. However, the older board members were sticklers to tradition and only allowed the traditional Victorian-type dances. This brought some consternation from the younger members of the club. “Are the directors of the Yavapai Club fossils?” the Journal-Miner asked. The paper also doubted whether the younger generation even owned any Victorian apparel. After petitions signed by many members were received by the board, it was decided to have two “informal” dances each month during the winter, but retained the formal dances for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the other holidays.
A poverty dance was held in 1926, where the costumes were “of a bygone, [Victorian] day showing evidence of hard usage,” the Republican reported. This was entirely emblematic of what the Club would be facing in a couple of years.
Indeed, in August 1928, the Club faced bankruptcy, and the property was put up for auction. Although the lot alone cost $20,000 to buy, it was sold at auction with one of the most expensive buildings to construct, for a paltry $15,000.
“The decision to disorganize and sell came when the decline in membership, loss of interest in activities, and the failure of many of the members to pay [their] dues,” the Republican explained. Of the $15,000 sale, $11,300 was used to pay off the mortgage, and another $3000 was needed to pay outstanding bills. Still, with the new owner, social events continued.
Gov. Phillips opened his campaign at the Club in 1930, and a few state conventions used the old building as well, but it started falling into disrepair, and things went quiet for several years.
The last uses of the building would be for the public good.
Amid the Great Depression, beginning February 26, 1935, the building was turned into a cannery to aid the needy. Described as Prescott’s first cannery, it was subsidized by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. They canned “tongue, beef stew, carrots, and beets, and anticipate[d] even greater activity” at harvest time. The incoming vegetables were grown “from relief board gardens in Maricopa County and from the prison farm in Florence,” the Republican explained.
The bowling alley building now housed “highly polished tables in the factory,” the paper continued. “All equipment [was] new, including 12 gas burners, huge pressure cookers, sealers, sinks, a cooling vat, and a coal range.”
Homer Wood, chairman of the Yavapai Welfare board, explained that the workers were paid hourly and given some of the produced food in quantities in accordance with the number of dependents a worker had.
In 1937, the WPA sewing rooms were moved there.
After being purchased by the school board, its last use was as an overflow annex for the high school in 1939. “Since the dissolution of the club…the building has deteriorated,” the Republican revealed.
The building would be demolished as soon as the ‘39 school year was over to be “made a part of the expanded junior high school area,” the Prescott Evening Courier reported. The Block house, which was next door to the club on Marina was purchased by the school board at the same time, and the large, two-story house upon it was purchased and moved to South Cortez St.
The excavation and leveling of the lots was federally funded as a WPA project, and one of the great prides of Frank Murphy and Prescott itself was just a memory.
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SOURCES:
Arizona Daily Journal-Miner, 11/14/1902, Pg. 1.
Arizona Republican, 6/16/1903, Pg. 4, Col. 3; 7/11/1903, Pg. 3, Col. 3; 1_2_1904, Pg. 1, Col. 3; 1/24/1904, Pg. 1, Col. 6; 5/7/1905, Pg. 6, Col. 2; 7/16/1905, Pg. 1, Col. 7; 7/18/1905, Pg. 5, Col. 4; 10/15/1905, Pg. 1, Col. 3; 11/19/1905, Pg. 1, Col. 7; 1/19/1906, Pg. 2, Col. 2-3; 3/16/1906, Pg. 20; 11/12/1908, Pg. 2, Col. 3; 11/22/1908, Pg. 7, Col. 3; 7/2/1909, Pg. 5, Col. 1; 1/24/1926, Pg. 24, Col. 1; 8/18/1928, Pg. 2, Col. 2; 10/7/1928, Pg. 29, Col. 2; 10/14/1928, Pg. 30, Col. 2; 10/2/1930, Pg. 4; 3/27/1935, Pg. 7, Col. 3; 3/4/1937, Pg. 10, Col. 6; 3/9/1939, Pg. 50, Col. 4.
Coconino Sun, 11/13/1908, Pg. 2 Col. 2.
Mohave Co. Miner, 3/19/1904, Pg 2 Col. 2.
Prescott Evening Courier, 12/15/1924, Pg. 1, Col. 2; 1/23/24, Pg. 1, Col. 5; 3/7/1939, Pg. 2, Col. 5.
Weekly Journal-Miner, 1/22/1902; Pg. 4; 1/13/1904, Pg. 3, Col. 2; 1/20/1904, Pg. 4, Col. 4; 1/27/1904, Pg. 1, Col. 4; 2/3/1904, Pg. 3, Col. 3; 2/17/1904, Pg. 4, Col. 2 & 4; 2/24/1904, Pg. 4, Col. 4; 4/6/1904, Pg. 2, Col. 1; 4/6/1904, Pg. 3, Col. 4; 4/27/1904, Pg. 4, Col. 3; 5/4/1904, Pg. 3, Col. 1; 7/20/1904, Pg. 7, Col. 4; 12/23/1904, Pg. 5, Col. 2; 12/28/1904, Pg. 5, Col. 4; 1/18/1905, Pg. 4, Col. 1; 2/1/1905, Pg. 7, Col. 5; 4/12/1905, Pg. 7, Col. 3; 10/4/1905, Pg. 7, Col. 5; 11/22/1905, Pg. 5, Col. 4; 1/10/1906, Pg. 5, Col. 2; 2/28/1906, Pg. 8, Col. 6; 6/13/1906, Pg. 6, Col. 5; 7/6/1906, Pg. 3, Col. 3; 12/19/1906, Pg. 8, Col. 5; 11/25/1908, Pg. 5, Col. 6; 12/9/1908, Pg. 2, Col. 6; 2/17/1909, Pg. 6; 6/16/1909, Pg. 5, Col. 3; 7/7/1909, Pg. 6, Col. 1-2; 9/22/1909, Pg. 5, Col. 1-3; 10/20/1909, Pg. 1; 10/27/1909, Pg. 6, Col. 1-2; 11/24/1909, Pg. 8, Col. 3; 12/1/1909, Pg. 6, Col. 2; 8/31/1910, Pg. 1; 9/21/1910, Pg. 8, Col. 5-6; 12/7/1910, Pg. 5; 7/12/1911, Pg. 8, Col. 2; 7/19/1911, Pg. 5, Col. 2; 10/4/1911, Pg. 8, Col. 4; 2/21/1912, Pg. 3, Col. 3; 12/4/1912, Pg. 5, Col. 3; 7/22/1914, Pg. 5, Col. 4; 2/23/1916, Pg. 3, Col. 7; 2/23/1916, Pg. 4, Col. 6; 1/24/1917, Pg. 6, Col. 7; 7/4/1917, Pg. 4, Col. 5-6; 5/21/1919, Pg. 3, Col. 1; 6/4/1919, Pg. 4, Col. 4; 3/17/1920, Pg. 6, Col. 3; 11/17/1920, Pg. 2, Col. 3.
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